Thursday, August 31, 2006

I missed Wednesday. How did I manage to do that? In any event, what started as a so-so Wednesday (a sub-so-so really - involving the end of a 3 day period of torrential rain, standing water on my studio floor, and the futile search for the affordable yet elusive wet-vac) ended on a lovely note.

By the end of the day, I had been contacted by a well established gallery located in the South who wants to carry a line of my original works and I spent a good part of my evening having a wonderful time having dinner and stimulating conversation about art with my friends Michael Scotko and Karen Kiick - both extremely talented artists themselves. I love being in a room with other artists - talking, laughing, discussing our work and our role in society as artists. I can't get enough.

Karen, an award winning sculptor and painter, also makes wonderful jewelry. She gave me a necklace as a present and I am crazy about it! I wear artistically designed masculine necklaces often - and this one is perfect for the coming autumn season. Here I am wearing it this morning waiting for my coffee to brew...

And here is a close-up of it:

A common theme in all of Karen's work is her ability to successfully present a sense of vision that is tactile in nature and inextricably bound to the very human desire to touch and feel rock, stone and clay. Our primordial ancestors need and ability to create tools from natural resources in order to scrape and paint imagery onto a cave wall is buried inside all of us. There are reasons that people are drawn to ancient stone ruins, graveyards, ancient cathedrals and castles and Karen's architecturally inspired work satisfies that want in an approachable and sophisticated way.

Her husband Michael Scotko is a self-taught pastel artist specializing in landscape. His work is brilliant - they transcend simply "pretty" landscapes evolving into thought provoking, soulful, delicate sanctuaries on paper that immediately calm and quieten. They're so enchanting that to see them in real time is the mot proper way to experience them, but until then - you can visit his site for a sampling at www.michaelscotko.com.